Back home

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

22 votes

Producing House

A Dutch company's owner bankrupts his own company, burns the incriminating ledgers and plans to run to Paris with the company funds but he is caught in the act by his accountant who challenges his actions, leading to a reversal of roles.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 1952-12-01

Runtime: 82 mins

Director: Harold French

Spoken language: English

Genres: Crime, Drama

Original title: The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

Production Companies: Josef Shaftel Productions, Raymond Stross Productions

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
Claude Rains ("Mr. Popinga") discovers that his boss (Herbert Lom) has been fiddling the books, and so bankrupting his company - so he can abscond to Paris with his fancy woman. When he catches his employer in the act of burning his ledgers, the two have a contretemps near a canal that has tragic results. Instead of Lom, it is Rains who heads to Paris where he meets the aforementioned lady (the glamorous, but wooden, Märta Torén), and her rather unpleasant friends - including the real love of her life "Louis" (Ferdy Mayne) - who want the money he brought with him from Holland, and which he has rather prudently hidden. All of this has not gone unnoticed by "Lucas" (Marius Goring) who was already investigating some curious currency transactions before alighting on Lom's company, and now on his suspected former chief clerk. It is quite an nice film to look at - Paris in the early 1950s was an attractive city which this photography shows off well, but the plot takes far too long to get going and though Rains is on good form as the mild mannered man whose attitudes are changed by necessity (and who finds that he has quite a taste for a life that lots of money can buy) really quite well, he receives little by way of support from anyone else - except, perhaps, Goring and the pace is just slow with no real conclusion...
2022-09-09

Recommendations

The Desolate Beach
2.5

The Desolate Beach

1963-05-17

A writer meets five widows on a train to Puri. As the six lives begin to intertwine, the theme of th

Brighton Rock
3.4

Brighton Rock

1948-01-09

Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vici

Last Train to Freo
2.9

Last Train to Freo

2006-09-14

Two thugs from the Perth suburb of Midland catch the last train to Fremantle. When a young woman boa

Human Desire
3.4

Human Desire

1954-08-05

A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair w

Chase a Crooked Shadow
3.5

Chase a Crooked Shadow

1958-01-16

A woman who lives in Spain has trouble convincing anybody that a complete stranger has taken her dea

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
3.3

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

1948-10-30

Bill Saunders, a former prisoner of war living in England, whose experiences have left him unstable

Murder Is My Beat
2.9

Murder Is My Beat

1955-02-27

Mr. Dean's body is found face down in the fireplace, burned beyond recognition. Nightclub-singer Ede

They Drive by Night
2.9

They Drive by Night

1938-12-01

“Shorty” Matthews having recently been released from prison visits his girlfriend in London only to

Our Ten Years
2.8

Our Ten Years

2007-09-29

Throughout ten years of a key era in Chinese and Hong Kong history, a girl becomes fixated on a fell

Inner Loop Couple
1.5

Inner Loop Couple

2018-11-19

A young man and woman discover the beauty of Tokyo at night as they wander around the streets of the

Last Train to Christmas
2.8

Last Train to Christmas

2021-12-18

When successful 80s nightclub manager Tony Towers boards a magical train at Christmas, he discovers

The Flanagan Boy
2.9

The Flanagan Boy

1953-04-10

Johnny Flanagan did not have the privileges of a good education or wealthy background but the street

Blind Date
3

Blind Date

1959-08-01

Dutch painter Jan-Van Rooyer hurries to keep a rendezvous with Jacqueline Cousteau, an elegant, soph

The Great Locomotive Chase
3.1

The Great Locomotive Chase

1956-06-08

During the Civil War, a Union spy, Andrews, is asked to lead a band of Union soldiers into the South

Panic
2.9

Panic

1963-01-01

In this crime melodrama, a Swiss woman finds herself unwittingly involved in a plot to steal from he

Never Let Go
3.3

Never Let Go

1960-06-02

John Cummings, an unsuccessful cosmetics salesman, has his unpaid-for car stolen by one of the hoods

Hidden Homicide
2.4

Hidden Homicide

1959-01-01

A novelist wakes up with a gun in his hand and a corpse in the house he woke up in. He doesn't remem

5 Centimeters per Second
3.6

5 Centimeters per Second

2007-03-03

Three moments in Takaki's life: his relationship with Akari and their forced separation; his friends

Let the Cat Out of the Bag
2.4

Let the Cat Out of the Bag

2005-01-20

Waitress Doris meets a stranger on a train to Leipzig. This well-dressed thirty-something man decide

Behind the Headlines
2.5

Behind the Headlines

1956-07-01

Newspaper reporters compete with London police to solve a murder.